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Thursday, May 2, 1912: Exams began today. I am rather doubtful about what I made in Algebra.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Sounds like the Algebra exam was tough. When my children were young, I used to bake cookies to cheer them up when they got home after a rough day at school. I now receive emails from the university my daughter attends asking if I want to buy a care package that will be delivered to her during finals week. Did Grandma’s mother have warm, fresh-baked cookies when Grandma arrived home from school to show she cared?

Here’s a recipe for Ginger Snaps that appeared in the April 1912 issue of Ladies Home Journal.

Ginger Snaps

½ Cupful of Molasses

½ Cupful of Sugar

½ Cupful of Butter

Set on the fire and boil for five minutes. Cool, then add

1 egg

1 Teaspoonful of Ginger

1 Teaspoonful of Soda

1 Tablespoonful of Vinegar

Flour enough to roll

I used approximately 2 cups of flour. I rolled the dough out until it was thin and then baked in a 400 degree oven for about 8 minutes.

The ginger snaps were excellent and perfect with a glass of milk.

An aside—I love how old recipes call for a teaspoonful of this and a cupful of that instead of just using the terms teaspoon and cup. It’s so much more descriptive.

Old recipes are so much fun. It does seem like the recipe authors are just giving helpful tips to a friend or family member. Sometimes they’re hard to interpret–electric/gas stoves vs. wood/coal stoves, etc. but it is always a fun adventure to make them. And, the ginger snaps turned out particularly well.

Hello

I look forward to sharing my grandmother's diary with relatives and friends. Helena Muffly (Swartz) kept a diary from 1911-1914. She was 15 years old when she began this diary. I plan to post these entries one day at a time—exactly 100 years after she wrote them. I hope you enjoy this glimpse back to a slower paced time.

The header is a picture of the farm where my grandmother lived when she wrote this diary. It is located in Northumberland County in central Pennsyvlania about a mile outside of McEwenvsille. My father said that the buildings look similar to what they looked like when he was a child.